Opening Statement by Ambassador Gábor Bródi
at the briefing for UN Member States and civil society on Holocaust awareness and the prevention of genocide
Holocaust Awareness and the Prevention of Genocide (12 May 2006)
Distinguished Presenters and Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is indeed an honor for me to participate in this important meeting on Holocaust awareness and on outreach activities designed to help to prevent genocide. I would like to thank the organizer, the United Nations Department of Public Information, and in particular Under-Secretary-General Shashi Tharoor, for taking the initiative to follow-up on the mandate of General Assembly resolution 60/7, and to provide this venue for all of us to examine the various aspects of Holocaust awareness, and the role of Holocaust education and outreach activities in our efforts to prevent genocide and all manifestations of religious intolerance, incitement, harassment or violence against persons or communities based on ethnic origin or religious belief.
Before presenting the activities planned under Hungary’s chairmanship of the Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research, allow me to briefly remind you why this issue is of the utmost importance to the Government of Hungary, and indeed to all of us.
The Holocaust was an enormous and unbearable tragedy for mankind. The attempt to exterminate an entire people based on their religion or ethnicity demonstrates that ignorance and hatred can lead to irrational and senseless barbarism anywhere in the world. The Holocaust was an enormous tragedy for our country in particular: we lost 600.000 of our compatriots. The sad and painful reality is that Hungarians were not only victims, but some Hungarians actively collaborated in committing these crimes. Government officials and many civilians, directly or indirectly, cooperated with those who committed these heinous acts against innocent human beings. This is the truth we have to face day after day, even if we also acknowledge the heroism of many Hungarians who saved a great number of Jewish lives and helped persecuted or hunted persons, often risking their own lives.
Our common responsibility is to draw the hard lessons from this tragedy and to take action to prevent these horrors from ever happening again. Hungary, after coming to terms with its own past, is determined now more than ever to make sure that the darkest pages of our history will not be forgotten and that they will never be rewritten. The Government of Hungary remains strong in its resolve to combat racial and ethnic discrimination, as well as anti-Semitism. We also want future generations to have full and complete knowledge of the historical truth of what happened over 60 years ago. This is a particularly important task, since the time when Holocaust survivors and witnesses are no longer with us is rapidly approaching.
We decided to take concrete action on many fronts. Since 2001, all Hungarian schools and educational institutions honor Holocaust Memorial Day on April 16. This reflects our conviction that dealing with the Holocaust at school is of critical importance. It deserves additional time and attention, as well as a special approach which should be different from teaching history. For example, in 2003 every school in Hungary received a copy of Imre Kertész’s Nobel Prize-winning novel, Sorstalanság (Fatelessness), and in April 2004, a group of Israeli and Hungarian students traveled to Auschwitz under the National Remembrance Program to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Hungarian Holocaust by visiting the renewed exhibition on the tragedy of the Hungarian Jews.
In January 2004, we opened the Holocaust Documentation and Memorial Center in a restored former synagogue in Budapest, a place of remembrance for the Jews and the Roma who perished. A new, permanent exhibition was opened just months ago in the Memorial Center.
In cooperation with the City Council of Budapest, the Ministry of Education established a secondary school named after Raoul Wallenberg. It houses the Wallenberg exhibition of the Hungarian Wallenberg Foundation, entitled "VISAS FOR LIFE", about diplomats who saved the lives of Jews in the Holocaust. These exhibitions were visited by more than hundred thousand people nationwide.
Furthermore, the Government of Hungary supports the work of the Jewish Lauder School in Budapest, which excels in Holocaust education and organizes teacher training programs every year. They have collected the stories of families and published a calendar with these life stories. We have also continued our cooperation with the Yad Vashem of Jerusalem, in the framework of which hundreds of Hungarian teachers took part in further education regarding the history of the Holocaust. The support of the Ministry of Education made it possible for a 1600 strong Hungarian delegation to take part in the “March of the Living” in Auschwitz in 2005.
As you may know, Hungary officially took over the Chairmanship of the Holocaust Task Force from Poland on March 22, 2006. General Assembly Resolution 60/7 rightfully commended the Task Force for its efforts to develop educational programs “that will inculcate future generations with the lessons of the Holocaust in order to help prevent future acts of genocide”.
The Task Force, which consists of representatives of governments and non-governmental organizations, endeavors to encourage activities on Holocaust education, remembrance and research in member and other interested countries and to place political and social leaders’ support behind the need for Holocaust-related activities both nationally and internationally. It was initiated by Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson in 1998 and has currently twenty four participating states, mainly from Europe. Members must be committed to the Declaration of the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, and must accept the principles adopted by the Task Force regarding membership. They must also be committed to the implementation of national policies and programs in support of Holocaust education, remembrance and research. Furthermore, the Task Force calls upon governments to facilitate the opening of all archives, both public and private, dealing with the period of the Holocaust.
The Task Force has constituted for us an important resource since Hungary became a member in 2002, by supporting and financing several initiatives in our country, and in addition by assisting the Ministry of Education and NGOs in constructing new partnerships, with Austria, the United States, and Israel for instance, notably regarding the training of teachers.
Hungary is now entrusted with the duty to take the lead in international efforts to promote and develop Holocaust education. We want to support the impulsion given the past years to the development of the Task Force and therefore ensure that the teaching of the Holocaust is given the place it deserves in our educational system.
As the Chair of the Task Force, Hungary will spare no effort to inform potential partners about the existing opportunities for cooperation. Our goal is to reinforce bilateral relationships in this regard, especially with Hungary’s bordering countries. There is still a lot to be done together with our neighbors, and the Task Force chairmanship will give us a chance to develop or to initiate common programs.
Another important part of our efforts is to improve the external communication of the Task Force. The Task Force experts have for instance developed educational materials that deserve a better visibility on the Internet and a larger circulation in our countries.
Two major meetings will take place in Budapest in the context of the Hungarian Chairmanship of the Task Force. The first one will be held on 21-25 May, and the second one in November.
I am confident that the following presentations will contribute to a greater understanding of the importance of Holocaust education and awareness in our diverse societies. Our task is not only to remember the tragedy, but to learn from its consequences and to actively endeavor to prevent it from ever happening again.
Thank you for your attention.